Alumn activities in the Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society employs a workforce of more than 20,000 professionals in 84 Institutes, including over 11,000 doctoral candidates, postdocs, scientific researchers and visiting scientists. Every year, new scientific researchers and scholars from all over the world take up employment at one of our institutes while others are leaving us in order take up positions in the international arena.
"Max Planck is everywhere!" We want to make use of this fact to connect alumns all over the world – regardless of where they are – by setting up a professional global network of former employees across the scientific disciplines.
In the following you will find the most essential information about our relevant offers.
What does "Alumni and Alumnae" mean?
The word "alumnus/alumnae" is derived from the Latin word "alere", "to nourish", and means "nursling" or "pupil". "Alumni/Alumnae", the plural form of "alumnus/alumna", literally means "the nurtured ones". For reasons of gender equality, we use the neutral term “alumn”, which has become established in the English-speaking world. In the USA, the term "alumn" has been used for graduates or former students of institutes of higher education for more than 200 years, and the first US-American alum association was founded in 1821. In Germany, it is only in the past few years that activities of alums have become established at universities and research institutes.
Why is collaboration with alumns important?
Creating a networked community including different career levels, many countries and subjects not only strengthens personnel development, but also facilitates the recruitment of new talents, which is of great importance in view of the shortage of skilled workers. The alumn network enables the targeted integration of expertise and promotes the exchange of knowledge, which in turn increases the long-term performance of the Max Planck Society.
Who are our alumns?
All scientific researchers as well as visiting scientists who spent a research residency at one of our institutes of a minimum of six months; all graduates, doctoral students, fellowship holders and postdocs as well as non-scientific staff.
How are our alumns organized?
The Max Planck Alumni Association offers an independent platform of collaboration, worldwide networking and individual career services.
Membership is for free and available to everyone who has worked with us for more than 6 months – that includes staff who are still active.
What do we offer our alumns?
Activities at the institutes
Max Planck alumns usually feel a sense of community to their former institutes. Therefore, every institute has a contact person in the form of an Alumn representatives who will gladly inform you about its institute's activities.
Some institutes have already been actively involved in local activities for a long time, organising meetings, sending out their institute newsletter and setting up alumni association and groups. We have compiled a list of all initiatives and associations for you.
Events
The Max Planck Society supports events with and for alumns in manifold ways, including but not limited to the support of early career researchers. In example, the annual Max Planck Symposium for Alumni and Early Career Researchers in our Harnack-Haus of Berlin, or various Career Days at Institutes or locations are noteworthy.